The Love of Life
by Yuki2
Summary: Oh boy! The second chapter is up!!!! The sequel of this amazing dialema! The second part is Takari, which is why this is in romance. Real sad, and emotional, must read! (And please do review) A really depressing and sad story about a girl (Kari) who has n
1. The Love of Life

YAY! This was runner up for Best Takari is I Am Canadian's fic contest! Thank you!  
It's actually not all that long, and the summary explains it. I was sad b/c my friends were being buttholes so I decided to write this one night when I had nothing to do.  
Digimon does not belong to me, only the story.  
I postponed my other stories just to write this one. I don't exactly know why. It came to me as a far away dream, and an opportunity to pour out my thoughts and feelings. It has been a pleasure to write "The Love of Life."  
  
Originally, this was not a Digimon story, but no one was reviewing it, and I thought it would make a good Digimon story. Kari does not have blue eyes, I'm pretty sure of that, but it says Bluish-brown, so I just wanted to point that out.  
  
The Love of Life  
  
The sky was blue. Not just any ordinary blue. Blue, like the water of the ocean, and the color of her bluish-brownish eyes. She stepped out of the building and onto the front steps. The wind ruffled her dark brown hair as she looked around. The schoolyard was almost empty.  
The warmth and comfort of home seemed millions of miles away at the moment. She decided to head towards the library. There was not much to do, but she forced herself to do her homework for tomorrow just to keep her mind off things. Instead, there she sat, tapping her pencil lightly, trying to concentrate, and all the while thinking of that day's events.  
Why couldn't she blend in with the other girls at school? Surely she had her differences, but it should be SO hard. She had her friends, but it was no use. She slumped down in her chair and looked around.  
What she saw broke her heart. A little girl, angry because her friend had given candy to her other friend but not her. How selfish. She tucked her soft hair behind her ears and sat up straight, watching. Why must we all be like this? Why? So selfish and greedy of their own needs-wait, did I say needs? I mean wants-that we never think of anyone but ourselves, and of our friends, either. Surely everything happens for a cause.  
The scene disgusted her. Stuffing her homework back into her book bag, she got up and left. Home still seemed far away. Instead, she headed towards the park, the section without the palm trees, where school kids usually hung out after school and old ladies wailed their dogs. Away from the mess and noisiness of life...and into the peace. It was a blessing.  
She sat down at the trunk of the tree and took out a sketchbook. It was much better expressing herself in pictures than words. Her mind kept flashing.  
Why did people have to be so mean? She scoffed as a popular adage popped into her mind, "Sticks and Stones can break my bones but words can't hurt me." She sighed. Huh. So much for that. Asking why didn't help anymore. No one helped. She shrugged, hugging her knees, curled up under the oak tree, her eyes brimming with tears.  
When she had been a little girl and hurt, she would curl up on her bed and cry. But she was a big girl now, and crying never resolves anything. What she would have most wanted next to an explanation was to be able to cry freely again and not to be ashamed of it, to know where she went wrong, and why no one liked her. Well, that was not true, not at all, and she knew it. But for what use? She knew her friends, at least the ones she hung out with, the ones that used her. They wanted her to do this at that...for what purpose? For themselves. Everything they asked her to do was for them. They would alter the pattern of her life course just to receive their needs. Were they really friends? Suddenly, she remembered a time long ago, when she had first met her best friend. She was crying too, for the almost exact purpose. People were talking about her, and she thought she had never felt so alone in her life, so vulnerable and helpless.  
Her friend had found her crying at the side of the building and after the story had been ferreted out, the girl had said, "That's not true Kari, and you know it. I like you and I want to be your friend." She smiled, remembering it. Then, as fast as a smile can disappear, her eyes were suddenly clouded again.  
But that was ever so long ago. Had her friends all changed? Or was it herself? Sobbing wildly, she confessed she didn't know.  
There was a time once when her friends followed her to talk to her, to care to spend time with her. And now? Times HAVE changed since then, and not for the best of things either.  
For one, she who used to be in the center of everything, she who was very happy and content with her life was suddenly lonely, and sad. She wondered if her friends card for her any at all. They certainly didn't show it.  
She sighed. It seemed so long since she had ever loved life. Digging in her book bag, she presented herself with a picture. Her ninth birthday party. How excited everyone looked. How happy they all were. She turned the picture over. Scrawled on the back were some words: "Today is my ninth birthday. How excited I am! I wonder where I'll be in another four years? I want to live life to its fullest extent." So much for that. She stuck the picture back into her bag.  
Then, without warning, she uncontrollably burst out, "Oh, no, don't, how I wish I could be nine again. How I wish I could forget about those dreadful worries and horrors of life itself and just be a little kid again and not have any responsibilities!" She stopped, realizing at once she was becoming no better than the girl at the library.  
Sulking was a bad habit. She knew it, but didn't care at the moment. Why should she? She sighed, again. So confused, so unsure of herself. No one understood her. No one understood why she did certain things.  
She needed to talk to someone. But who? Who would be patient enough to hear her whole story and yet care about it? Who would be brave enough to say what they actually thought? The lists of names first pouring though her head stopped, and she was left with a certain blankness. Who would tell the truth?  
She got up, and walked over to the road that crossed right in the middle of the park. She ran all the way home, tears pouring out of her eyes.  
Bamn. The front door slammed shut. Her mother called from the kitchen.  
"And she told you to meet them in the park." The sound of the washer was on. Her mother must have been doing laundry. Her voice grew louder as she approached with a load of blankets. "You can go, but be back before dinner, all right?" She paused as she got a glimpse of her daughter's face. "What's is up with-" But Kari was already out the door.  
Park. Everything was held at the park. Why hadn't she seen them? Why hadn't she known about this sooner? She wiped her face with her sleeve and ran to the park. But images kept coming back. Why couldn't she stop? She needed it to stop. She thought about her friends. Would they notice anything wrong?  
In her rush of painful thoughts, she ran right past them. When they called to her, she slowly made her way back, hoping none of them would make a curt reply to her. None of them did. Instead they hardly seemed themselves at all, giving each other puzzled looks. She couldn't understand the cryptic code at all.  
Was it really as bad as this? The fact that they could no longer tell each other their problems or even understand each other. She remembered a time when she had spent a day mustering the courage to speak to one of them about her problems and they had laughed.  
Finally, a girl spoke in the dreadful silence.  
"Kari, what's wrong?" She asked.  
"What's wrong?"  
"You don't seem yourself today."  
What is myself, the show I put on to satisfy my friends or my originally thoughts? She-  
"Nothing." She said. "Nothing's wrong." They turned around from me to talk among themselves.  
It has come to this. We, best of friends, have had our likes and differences, but now we can no longer even understand each other. Silence is no longer grand, it is dreadful and trepidations me. We have all changed since so long ago. Why? No one can answer that. Many questions often raised do not have answers. But as long as my heart continues to seek for the life it deserves, I will ponder over and over, one word: Why. Why has this ever happened? What went wrong, and why aren't we still the best of friends?  
Why don't you, along with the rest of the world, love me anymore?  
  
And amazingly, as you look on comparison to the rest of my stories, this one isn't throughly based on dialouges.  
P.S. I'm not mad at anyone anymore. 


	2. Instant Illusions

Digimon does not belong to me.  
I would like to get the disclaimer out of the say as soon as possible: UGH  
Some of you have been wondering why The Love of Life is in romance and that it would've fared better in general.  
Well, this is why: Introducing you to the sequel (it took me a long time to find the time to write this, not a long time to write) of the Love of Life: Instant Illusions.  
To DigitalAnimeFox, it was her idea!  
And guess what? It's Takari!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Kari: *blushes*  
T.K: Yay! Kari, you'd better believe every word I say.  
Kari: *sniff* After you did all that, how could I?  
Yuki: Okay, break it up, you aren't supposed to know what happens yet. I don't like eavesdropping. Now READ!!!!  
T.K. and Kari in unison: Yes ma'am.  
Yuki: *pouts* It is good, you know.  
T.K.*coughing* In whose opinion?  
Yuki: In mine and Kari's so be quiet and READ!!!!!!!  
  
Instant Illusions  
So there I was, with no friends? Me, Kari Kamiya? It was unbelievingly hard to believe. So, stumbling over some dead leaves, I went home. I seemed dead, like those feeble yellow leaves, and yet I was alive, somehow, but how? Stupid questions arose in my head and floated away. I would have loved to feel as light as a cloud again. But there are some things that could never happen, some of the impossible.  
The next day, school seemed as away as possible. I didn't want to go, but would my mom listen, even though I pretended to have a fever and a cold? No, and I was sent to school. I handed in my homework diligently (ha, I could still do homework no matter how depressed I was; homework just made me sadder) and this big bully tripped me in the hall.  
Stumbling, I made it to my locker, only to be greeted by some gangsters at our school. Oh, we had a good school, there was no doubt about that, but only one gang, and today, on THIS very day, they had to come to pick on me.  
"Eh, crybaby, no bigger brother to defend you eh?" The leader jeered at me. I tried to get free, away from them, but the leader stuck out her foot and I went flying down the hall, my books scattering everywhere.  
They stood in front of me, with their evil grins, and I looked at the ground, at the ant scurrying away from them, and wished that the gang were as tiny as the ants. Then came the sound of footsteps. The gang died away.  
Looking up, I saw T.K., the popular, cute, blond haired boy hand me the books I had scattered everywhere in a neat pile. He smiled and I found myself looking into his blue eyes.  
"Here." He said. A girl tugged at his sleeve nearby. I wondered how ridicules I looked, lying on the floor, and crawled into a sitting position to receive my books. I blushed.  
"Thanks." I said, getting up and dusting myself. T.K. sneezed. If the situation weren't so tense, I would have laughed.  
"No problem." T.K. said in a kind of muffled voice. "I'll see you around, okay?" T.K. strolled off, and I looked after him, wondering what had just happened.  
No one ever got any attention from T.K. unless they were special. Did that mean? I shook my head. But why had he come to rescue me from the bullies in the nick of time? Why didn't he just walk by like he had for the past month? I couldn't get it.  
**  
Kari Kamiya wondered for a week, and then dismissed the subject. He hadn't come up to talk to her in a week, so it wasn't worthy to talk of, and besides, her fancies about it were just getting too silly.  
Still, he was very nice to her, giving her smiles in the halls, and it was nice to have at least one friend.  
Kari seemed less depressed for the while, and kept her mind on setting goals, goals toward school, of course.  
And then one day, T.K. came up to visit her again. She had been stuffing books into her locker, and they kept falling out. People were watching and laughing, and every time their vicious cackle bellowed out, she tried to stuff the books even more furiously into her locker.  
T.K. heard the laughter and walked over.  
"What's so funny?" He asked. A nearby girl told him. "That's nothing to laugh about. I do that all the time. Now go to class." Slowly, the crowd diminished. Kari looked at him in admiration.  
"Let me help." T.K. took the books, stacked them up neatly, and closed the door. "There." Kari looked at him shyly.  
"You must have a lot of power." She said. T.K. shrugged.  
"C'mon, let's get to class." T.K. put an arm on Kari's shoulder and urged her to go. "What do you have this period?"  
"Social Studies." Kari said timidly.  
"Oh, so do I!" T.K. said. Kari nodded. She had known that for some time now. When they both reached the class, T.K. went to sit by his friends and Kari sat at a desk, tapping her pencil thoughtfully as she wondered why T.K. ever bothered to help her. It wasn't like anyone as popular as T.K. to come and help somebody who was out of everything.  
T.K. walked over and sat in the empty desk next to Kari.  
"Is this seat saved?" T.K. asked. Who does he think I am, Ms. Popularity? Kari asked herself.  
"Of course not." Kari said. No one would ever sit by me...except you. She blushed at the thought.  
"Hey, I was wondering if you would like to come to the movies with me, and my brother Matt, of course, if he can make it." T.K. said.  
"Matt Ishida?" Kari asked (Yes! Yuki has finally learned to spell Matt's last name correctly. Oops. *Grabs mouth* I forgot, we're in the middle of a fic). T.K. nodded. "Isn't he that person that plays in that band?" T.K. nodded again. "Wow, he's your brother."  
"So would you like to come?" T.K. asked.  
"Sure." Said Kari. T.K. leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear.  
"And not only because of Matt, okay?" Kari giggled. "Well, he might not be there. I want you to be there because of me." T.K. gave Kari a light kiss below the ear just a slight second before the teacher walked in. The sound of "oohs" filled the room. The teacher tapped her ruler for silence. Kari blushed, and T.K. seemed very pleased with himself.  
"Well." A girl said to Kari at lunch. "Look at you. T.K. has sure got it in for you eh?" She giggled. Kari stared her and recognized her as the girl who had pulled T.K. away from her the first day she met T.K. "Too bad you don't know why!" She giggled wildly and snorted, then left to get her lunch.  
Kari was puzzled. What did she mean why T.K. had invited her to the movies? T.K. must have invited her because he liked her or something. Kari shrugged, very puzzled, and realized T.K. never said when or where. She would go find him after school.  
In the second to last period, Kari overheard where she could find T.K. after school.  
"Hey, T.K., were ya going after school?" T.K.'s friend Mike asked.  
"Nowhere, really, just got to check with THEM first." T.K. said. "We're going to meet by the lunchroom door. Want to come?"  
"Sure." Mike said. "Got to see this."  
Kari was puzzled. What was T.K. doing? Who was them? She decided she would definitely find T.K. after school.  
The last period dragged on, and right after, Kari headed towards the lunchroom. She crouched in a corner, behind the door, and waited. T.K. wasn't there yet. Soon, though, T.K. and Mike arrived, followed by the gang. That same gang that had tripped her weeks ago.  
What was going on?  
"Well, you did it." The gang leader said, digging into his wallet, and pulled out two twenty-dollar bills and one ten-dollar bill. "You are the man, T.K." T.K. shrugged.  
"You guys helped a lot too." He said, tucking the money carefully again. "Just tell you guys never to bet me on a girl again, eh?" The gang members all laughed, patted T.K. on the back and left.  
"What was that?" Mike asked. T.K. shrugged.  
"C'mon, don't you remember, I told you." T.K. said.  
"Fifty dollars?" Mike said. "Well, you've got your money off of her, so are you still going on that date with her?"  
"What date?"  
"That movie, of course." Mike said. T.K. was considering it.  
"I might, yeah, it might not be so bad." T.K. said. "She's actually a nice girl." Mike shook his head and started for the door. T.K. smiled, looked at Mike's back for a second, and started to hurry after him. But Kari was faster.  
She got it. She understood. She got up from where she hid and approached T.K. Mike was already a long ways off, although T.K. could've caught up to him with a few jogs.  
"T.K." Kari said. T.K. whirled around, and the smile wiped off his face totally.  
"How much did you hear?" T.K. asked immediately.  
"Everything." Kari said.  
"I'm sorry." T.K. said.  
"No you're not." Kari said.  
"Yes I am, really." T.K. said. "The original deal was, I met them in the hallway, and the gang leader bet me fifty dollars that I couldn't get any girl I wanted, and I said yes I could. You happened to walk past right that second, and the leader said, 'Try Kari Kamiya'. The gang people don't pick on many people Kari. I'm sorry for what they did on that day. We were just trying to prove to you that-"  
"You were trying to show off and use me at the same time." Kari finished. "Just to make a long story short."  
"Please, Kari, let me explain."  
"I don't need to hear any more of this." And as quick as she could, she fled home. T.K. followed her all the way until she slammed the door in his face. T.K. was shocked.  
"It WAS my fault, and I'm sorry for it." T.K. said. He tried the doorknob. Kari was so quick in running and banging the door she had forgotten to lock it. But it was wrong. Still, T.K. needed to explain.  
He ran in and put a hand on her shoulder. She was lying face down on her bed, head in pillow, sobbing wildly.  
"I'm okay." She said. T.K. blinked. Obviously, someone had come in in the meantime and tried to comfort Kari. He stroked her short hair. "Really I am." She said, crying.  
"Kari." He said softly. She stopped crying and shakily got up.  
"What are you doing here? How did you get in?"  
"Kari, if only you would let me explain?"  
"What is there to explain T.K.? You used me and there is nothing else to say."  
"I love you Kari."  
"No you don't."  
"Yes I do." T.K. said. "I realized that the moment your books kept falling out of that locker and I felt so sorry for you. If I didn't, do you think I'd run all the way over here, and try to explain things to you?"  
"Yes."  
"Why?"  
"Because you're that kind of person who would like to keep a good clean record out of everyone."  
"I do love you."  
"What about those bullies?"  
"What about them?"  
"Oh, T.K., you're confusing me! Why did you take that stupid bet anyways?"  
"I wanted to prove myself." T.K. said. "And I'm glad I did."  
"Just so you could have fifty more dollars in your pocket?" Kari asked angrily.  
"Just so I could have something worth greater than that." T.K. said, looking at Kari. "Kari, I do."  
"Okay, so supposed I believe you." Kari said. "What about Maria, the other girl, the one that knew about all this?"  
"She was there when we made the bet." T.K. said. "She painstakingly follows me around just as Jun follows my brother Matt around." Kari smiled sadly. She remembered the Jun and Matt incident.  
"I just don't know who to believe anymore." Kari said.  
"Me." T.K. said. "I have to go now, Kari. I'm every so sorry. I'll see you Friday at seven, all right?"  
"For what?" Kari asked.  
"Our 'date'." T.K. said.  
"What date, we don't have a date." Kari protested.  
"That's what I was trying to tell Mike." T.K. said. "Now don't you try to cancel it. I'm going to get Matt to pick you up at seven whether you like it or not." Kari blinked. T.K. leaned forward.  
"I just didn't want to admit I fell in love on a bet." He said, winking. "I'll see you around."  
He left.  
Kari lay on her bed, sighing. Did she trust him? He seemed so trustworthy, and she was such a gullible person. And she had to admit it: T.K. was cute. She would like to go on that date.  
"Might as well let it be." Kari said. "It's only for one night, and we'll see how things work out after that."  
  
Yuki: *sniffles* sad...now REVIEW!!!!  
T.K.: You'd think we get the idea now.  
Kari: *wipes eyes* That's sad *eyes T.K. suspisiously* Now, who AM I supposed to trust?  
T.K.: *shocked* Kari, don't doubt me!  
Yuki: Please don't doubt him Kari. I don't want to have to write another sequel for this. I already have three sequels lined up for my other stories, plus I have three chapter stories (stories that have a large amount of chapters, not just sequels)(those are the stories that have chapters 1-32 and then a sequel chap.1-32. ^-^)and 14 other stories to write.  
Kari: *blink* WOW. How are you going to do all that?  
Yuki: I don't know, but I'm on Spring Break right now and that helps. I have to get my homework done too.  
Kari: *-* Spring Break sure pays off.  
Yuki: *last minute reasponse* You'd better all review!!!!!  
T.K.: *shakes head*...sadly. 


End file.
